The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 20, 1926, Page 5

THE FIRST PRIZE WINNER, ‘ UNION BETTERS CONDITION OF RETAIL CLERKS Bosses Fear Militant Or- ganization Drives By a Worker Correspondent NEW YORK, Feb. 18 — The pur- pose of this article is to expose the miserable conditions of the grocery clerks of years ago and the changes brought about by the Retail Grocery and Dairy Clerks’ Union of Greater New York and the miserable cond! tions in the non-union stores of today. To become a grocer’s apprentice 10 years ago was very easy. Joe gets up 4 o’clock in the morn- ing; pulls on his clothes; wets his hair; slides down the three flights of stairs and grabs a morning news- paper. He walks over to the nearest lamp-post, and turns to the “want ads” page and reads: “Grocery boy wanted, No experience necessary, 656 Hoe Ave., Bronx, N. Y.” Joe gets 6n the train at the nearest elevated station and arrives at his destination at about 5 a. m, He walks into the food store of Mr. “H.” A wheelbarrow figure on two short legs, bent over a box of rolls: “Young man, you are just the guy I want,” grunts Mr, {H.” I had:no luck with my boys lately. They don’t seem to stick, but a fellow, whose ambition brings him here 6 o’clock in the morn- ing is the right dough for me. Deliver these seventy orders. You will then go up to my house for breakfast. You will go up for,dinner when you have a chance and for supper towards even- ing. There is a cot for you in the kitchen to sleep on. My baby’s crying wont wake you after a day's work. You start every morning at 4:30 a. m. Iam no mean person. I don’t keep a boy tied to the store, if there is no work to pefform. You will be thru with your day’s work quite often at 11 p. m. Of course, you. know that on Saturdays you have to work until 1-2 a. m., but for that you will get off on Sundays between 12 and 4 p, m., This batch of orders goes first.” Joe well realizes that Mr. “H” seems to be a liberal boss for on his last job he had to do even more, And being that Mr, “H” is liberal, Joe is sure that at the end of the month, he will get 5 or 6 dollars pocket money. But time goes on and many changes take place. Today there is a local of the Retail Grocery and Dairy Clerks’ Union of Greater New York, which wrought a great change in these al- most unbelievable conditions. The member of the union does not look for the job, but the employer is supplied with help from the office of the union. Since the union has become a factor Joe now walks into Mr. “H's” store which is non-union, neatly-dressed, his hair neatly combed. Mr. “H” motions to him to walk into the back room of the store. He takes a sheet of paper and asks: “Your name and address.” “Are you married?” “What country do you come from?” “What was your occupation in the old country?” “Why did you come to this coun- try?” “Do you intend to marry?” “Did you ever work in a union store?” “Are you a union man?” “Do you intend to join the union?” “Will wou go down on strike if THE WI 1000 WORKER. iro :8 Five NNERS! The first prize goes to a grocery clerk in New York City. His article describes the life of a grocery clerk, past and present. He re- ceives the book by James H..Dolsen, “Awakening of China.” The second prize goes to a worker in the Toledo Malleable Iron Works, who tells how the workers there are revolting against the black robed fakers, The third prize goes to a miner of West Virginia who describes the extreme poverty of the union due to the treachery of John L, minerg,in northern West Virginia, Lewis:and company. He receives “The Russell-' Scott Nearing Debate on “s Soviet form of government. * Next Week's Prizes! First Prize—A valuable fountain pen. Second Prize—Karl Marx's “Capital,” Vol. No, 1, Third Prize—Lenin on Organization. wes Be sure to send your namé and address with the story. We cannot forward prizes if we do not know how to reach you, “How much do you expect to get per week?” “Alright. I will let you know, Good morning.” And if everything is satisfactory, Joe lands the job at $20 to $22 a week, His working hours are from 6 a. m. to 8 or 9 p, m.and a half a day off Sunday for which he has to make up Saturday night. The average number of months the clerk works thruout the year are 6, 7 or 8 months, due to slow business dur- ing the summer. The Chain Store Manager. A manager must have from 5 to 10 years’ experience at least. To become manager, he must first enter the em- ploy of the firm as a clerk at the rate of $18 to $20 a week and work in that capacity for a period of from six months up, until a chance presents it- self by the opening of a new store, the death of some manager or a va- cancy created otherwise, The manager is boss of the store as far as work is concerned. He has to see to it that sales increase, that everything is kept in good shape and is prominently displayed. He is res- ponsible for every package of mer- chandize and every: cent of income into the store and he has his own bookeeping system. in the store. His working hours are officially from 7 a. m, till 7 p. m., one ‘hour for lunch. But no manager is thru before 8 or 9 p. m., before he gets ‘thru checking up the cash or cleaning up the store for the day’s business. He receives a wage of $35 and 1 or 1%% commission per week. His average wage amounts to $40 or $45 a week, He is dead as far as social life is concerned. He has time only to eat, sleep and work. The Chain Store Clerk. The working hours of a chain store clerk are from 7 a. m, to 7 p.m, The average wage of a, chain store clerk are from $18 to $24. The average clerk is so. enslaved to his job that he becomes divorced from social life. He has nothing to contribute except new tricks to steal from his customers. He becomes a moral cripple, a money monger who scrapes together every cent in any possible way and with an accumulated capital of $1,000, covering a ten year’s period of privation he opens a shop for himself. His ignorance mounts. He falls back on current events. He marries a wo- man to help him run his business and called upon?” “Any references?” “How many and what languages do you speak?” “Do you read and write English, Jewish and Polish “Can you figure?” saves every cent from eats and re- creation in order that he might die with a larger bank account. This is the “brilliant” future awaiting a clerk and quite often he uses his expectancy of a “future” as an argument against joining the union, Unions’ Retail Store Clerks. After eleven years of ceaseless fight- ing the union clerks have gained a nine-hour work day and a six-day work week for their members. Despite the fact that. the labor laws of the state of New .York, prohibit a seven-day work week, they have fo strike for a six-day week and are quite often con- fronted with injunctions for trying to enforce the law. The union also ob- tained for its members a minimum wage of from $35 to $45 a week as clerks and from $50 to $60 for man- agers. The spirit of the membership is forcing the hands of the biggest chain store proprietors and makes them grant better conditions ‘to their, employes for fear that the union may gain hold on them. . The union is not of the richest and cannot boast of its treasury but let any boss try to break the agreement with the union and the members cover the cost of the strike even if it mounts into thousands of dollars. Each mem- ber contributes to the strike fund. They fight back and today they are stronger than ever and are still grow- ing, despite injunctions, gangsters and scabs, When one realizes that the union with its comparatively small mém- bership | controls’ hundreds of stdres and that the small business man is the bitterest enemy of unionism and fights desperately against it, then one is amazed at the spirit an the almost superhuman efforts invested in the members and leaders of the union to carry-on. No wonder this union's called, “The fighting union, the union that conducts strikes 365 days per year,” DON'T LEAVE OUT YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS WHEN SENDING IN YOUR ARTICLE Due to the volume of Worker cor- respondence that comes to our office every day and the necessity often to ask for more detailed intormation and send suggestions and instruc- tions, we make the following request from our Worker Correspondents: At the top of each page of your manuscript, in the right hand cor- ner, write in plain hand, if you do not use typewriter, your name, ad- dress and date. At the end of your manuscript add a note stating whether. you wish your name to, be used and any other instructions re- garding the signing of your article. Can the Workers Write for Our Press? The Question of Worker Correspondents and Shop Bulletins. By MARTIN ABERN. Article Il. . 'N yesterday's article, we took up the question of why a. staff of ‘Worker Correspondents must be de- veloped and of what matters the Worker Correspondents shall write. The following are some suggestions of ways to get our comrades from the shops, mills and fields to write, and to lay a basis for the issuance and distribution of shop bulletins by the shop nuclei, 1, In those cities where ‘Worker Correspondents’ classes have been al- ready established, every shop and street nucleus shall send at least o1 or more, comrade to attend the class. New York and Chicago classes are proving successful. Special Classes for Worker Corre- spondents, 2. If @ special class has not been arranged, a capable comrade should be selected in each nucleus or sub- section, who can select a number of subjects on which to write. Divide these subjects among the nucleus members with insistence that they write a story, no matter how short, and bring it to the next nucleus meet- ing. The articles can then be read, and corrections, if necessary, made. ‘The selection and assignment of sul jects to members has often proved a good method to get hesitating com- rades to write, These articles can be written in either English or the language with which the comrade is most familiar. The stories written in a foreign language can be translated freely and used in either or both the English or foreign language press, Let's Have Shop Talks. 3. It takes, sometimes, lots of con- vincing to make comrades feel that they can write good stuff for The DAILY WORKER or shop bulletins. Like Missourians, they want to be shown why and how, Why not try the following: Every shop and street nucleus should have regularly on its order of business the matters of shop talks. At least two comrades shall repor' for about five minutes each to the nucleus on conditions of work in their shop, etc. In many nuclei these re- ports have proved interesting and stimulating. It gets the comrades ac- customed to taking the floor, But for the purpose of Worker Correspond- ents, this should be done, As the comrade makes his shop talk, another selected comrade should take down the talk in either short- hand or longhand. When the com- rade {is thru talking, the speech should be read back to him. To his prob- able gurprise, he will find that what he has said would make a good Work- er Correspondent story for The DAILY WORKER or for a shop bulle- tin, Comrades should make efforts to write their stories as they would tell them if speaking to another. What Should be in the Shop Bulletin? Now"for the shop bulletin. ~A7de- veloped system of Worker Corre- spondents lays a good basis for a live, snappy shop bulletin. Of what shall the’ shop bulletin consist? Pri- marily of the same kind of material as mentioned hitherto; the. material used ini the’ Worker Correspondents’ columns--shop conditions and prob- lems. Of course, the shop bulletin, as a party organ in the shops, must be political in its content and out- look, Nevertheless, that does not mean that comrades shall write long screeds of alleged Marxism. A short editorial comment, for example, on one of the shop stories written by a comrade; a few lines on the Interna- tional Labor Defense and its relation to the working class movement, cit- ing some special case, such as the Zeigler case. Some lines explaining and advertising The DAILY WORK- ER and party publications, Short out- lines of the party campaigns, such as the campaign for the formation ‘of councils for the protection of the for- eign-born, for a labor party. Mention the need of union organization,. ete. Further, all of this material should be written by the workers themselves, not by one or two comrades called the editorial board. Thi¥ editorial board should mainly’ cénéern itself with the technic and make-up of the bulletin, As for financing thé shop bulletin, | THE SECOND PRIZE WINNER, TOLEDO WORKERS ARE BETRAYERS | Hungarians Damn Black Robed Parasites (By A Worker Correspondent.) TOLEDO, Ohio, Feb. 18—The most despicable double cross in the his- tory of this city has just occurred, The Toledo 'Malleable Iron Works employing over 500 Hungarian: work- ers has been! in the hands of a re- ceiver for the®last three months. Dur- ing December the receiver informed the workers that there was no money to pay their ‘Wages, but that he ex- LEARN PRIESTS | pected to pay them in a few week When DecemBer was over the work- ers having béen without pay for five weeks, threatefied to quit and go to a neighboring foundry. The receiver then solemnly’? promised them their wages before ‘the end of the week. Still there’ ‘were no wages. Hun- dreds were going into debt. Scores were on the verge of starvation, and yet the receiver kept on promising —nothing more: Three hundred Hungarians in dis- gust went to work in the Toledo Smelting Works. Priests Get on Job. The following Sunday the Roman Catholic and Greek Catholic priests stood up before their congregations and demanded that the workers who had left the Toledo Malleable Iron iron Foundry quit their new jobs and return to their former employment. Meanwhile the Malleable Works could not get any workers to replace the ones who had quit as no one de- sired to work without wages. Mi- raculously they found money and be- gan to pay wages. The workers who had quit reported Monday morning at the Malleable plant, on the advice of their priests. They were refused re-employment because they had left their jobs at©the Malleable. They then walked in-@ body to the smelting works where they were also refused their jobs beéause they had not re- ported in thé® morning. Thus they were without any jobs at all. It is said in the Hungarian settlement that a good sum ©f «money was donated by the foundry to the priests. They are endeavoring to teach the Hungar- jan workers’‘that they must work even if they are not paid their measly wages, g Unbelieyable Conditions. The most terrible conditions exist in the Toledo Malleable Works. Piece work rates are one-tenth of the 1917 scale. There are no regular hours of work, Some come in at 4 a, m.; oth- ers at 5 a, m, etc. If they complain that the wages ate not sufficient the workers are told to work a few extra hours. Men are known to have work- ed twenty hours a day, while sixteen hours is the usual time worked. When the bosses are asked about the six- teen-hour day, they state that this condition is due to the workers in- sisting on working long hours. No End to the Work. The above statement, sad to relate, was true. The Hungarians who came to the foundry were peasants whose ideas were that the longer one works, the more is produced, the more is sold, the more one has. It was in the winter of 1918 that an I. W. W. organizer burst into my room with the news that the foundry workers were on strike. We rushed to the there is the method of the raffle, In Detroit, the comrades recently raised $330.00 to purehase a multigraph for shop bulletin publications. Collections from the comrades, to begin with, a small assessment or sustaining fund, sale of papers, which will develop among the workers after a couple of issues are out, etc. Efforta should be made by the party city organiza- tions collectively to purchase a mult!- graph which would ensure publication of shop bulletins at an approximate. cost of $1.00 per thousand copies. Regarding distribution, that is a matter of each local situation. Dis- tribution can be before the factory gates, by members of street nucl called upon to aid the shop nuclei; thru secret distribution by the shop nuclei members themselves, in the lockers, toilets, pasting on walls, and, if necessary, by getting the shop bu letin to the workers in their homes direct, Comrades can be specially se- lected for the latter method, that is, getting comrades to visit the homes of workers with whom they are pretty friendly as a result of close working contact in the ‘shop. Experience Will show to the party members many more ways and means to become Worker Correspondents, to publish and distribute the shop bul- letins in the shops and factories, but the above may prove helpful. Com- should write in of their expert ences and make suggestions, CORRES PONDENTS BY JANUARY 13 1927 THE THIRD PRIZE WINNER. UNION MINERS OF WEST VIRGINIA LIVE IN ABJECT POVERTY DUE TO TREACHERY OF THE LEWIS MACHINE | By a Worker Correspondent. | Heuy FORD WORKERS EXPOSE METHODS OF THEIR BOSS PERL of Flivver Magnate Made Clear By a Worker Correspondent nie ROIT, Mich., Feb, 18 — Im an erview printed in Colliers’ Weekly Ford pretends to maintain a | higher than average wage rate and WENDEL, W. Va., Feb, 18—Here in northern West Virginia we are get-|that wages increase as the company ting a good example of the conditions which are forced on the working class | prospers not only by the capitalist class but also by the betrayal of their so-called | leaders who are 190 per cent “pay-triots” whom they should represent. The United Mine Workers of America was established after by our forefathers, who gave their lif One of the main principles of union-* ism is betterment in our working con- ditions. It seems that today our of- ficials look at these conditions when they are facing the other way, fer if a man expresses an opinion for the good of the union and the members he is called a “red,” and our officials set up a holler that he should be thrown out, Some of us here have only worked about 200 days since 1918. The mines are going full force with non-union| , miners, still the officials tell us the strike will soon be over and we will soon be working under union condi- tions. They tell about the company’s spies, but they don’t tell of their own stoolpigeons in every local to carry tales to them to the hotels where they sit around all day, It is nothing to them that men with families at this time live on salaries of $3 and’$5 every two weeks. That they have to live in shacks 10x36 feet for a family of 8 to 10, while if the family is smaller they get a smaller and do not care for the a life struggle ‘e’s blood to the miners’ union. shack down to 10x24 feet. It would be advisable for the miners to look into the figures of the last j report showing the salaries of the! 1 Officials and compare them with their own wages. From June 1 to Dee. 31, 1925, Van A. Bittner drew a salary of $1,999.92, | expenses $2,210.02; total $4,209 eley, salary $1,444.00, expenses total $3. Sanford expenses $1,- John L. Lewi Je expenses $5,314.42; ; total $9,314.38, and so on all down the list. They preach to the members save, Save, save. But does it look like they are trying to save? I ask the rank and file of the United Mine Workers of America, how are we going to find a clean house if the members of the rank and file do not clean it? By a Union Coal Miner, P. S.—Will write again —Long live the progressive miners! Hungarian settlement but found that the hall in which the strikers were meeting was barred to us by a fore- man of the plant. While we could not enter, still we could hear the pro- ceedings, When the superintendant asked the men why they were strik- ing, a spokesman stood up and said, “We don’t make enough to live on. You only let us work twelve hours a day and it is not enough. Let us work as many hours as we want and we will go back to work.” The super- intendent acceded to their request and we, on the outside, did not know whether to laugh or ery. To the Devil With the Priests. Today, the Communists have an op- portunity in Birmingham to strike, not only against capitalism, but against.the priesthood as well. Three hundred families have been duped by the priests and now the priests are being openly cursed and damned. I saw a Hungarian stand in front of the catholic church and shake his fist, saying, “His name is Father Aurog.” (In Hungarian “Aurog” means devil.) These workers are amongst the most politically backward but still the message of Communism must be carried to them. By a Teacher teachers are beginning to take some against the oppressiye regime which upon them. LANE HIGH INSTRUCTOR DOES NOT SUCCEED IN MISINFORMING STUDENTS (By a Student Correspondent) In one of the classes at Lane High School a discussion arose about the coal strike agreement and the version given it in the newspa- pers. The instructor, Mr. Ira Nes- tor, held up a copy of The DAILY WORKER and said: This is a red Paper and therefore do not believe what it says. The article on the coal strike agreement is just a Space filler. The larger papers (meaning the capitalist sheets) will give you a better account of the set- tlement of the coal strike. Mr, Nestor, a number of the students before whom you made this little speech challenge you to undertake to prove that the capital- ist press, serving its class, would give the workers a truer version of this betrayal of the coal miners than The DAILY WORKER, serving its class, the workers. TERRORISM TACTICS OF McANDREW STIRS SPIRIT OF REVOLT AMONG TEACHERS OF CHICAGO FEDERATION Correspondent. The last meeting of the Chicago Teachers’ Federation indicated that the action towards defending themselves Superintendent McAndrew is foisting It was reported at the meeting that a forty page document has been issued and controlling the teachers. The document lays the basis for the spread of a campaign of terror among the teachers under the charge of inef- ficiency. A committee was elected to draw up a strong resolution of opposition and condemnation. The resolution which has been dubbed the “declaration of rights,” is to point out that the teach- ers have been deprived of all rights of self-expression in the school room, and that the charge of inefficiency (on which several teachers have recently been discharged, and which McAndrew now holds as a club over the heads of the rest of the teachers) is being used to frighten teachers who rebel at the abuses of the administration. Miss Haley reported to the meeting that the question of putting a refer- endum before the people for the pur- pose of increasing taxes for school funds, is*coming up béfore the city council Thursday. A motion was made and unanimously carried authorizing Miss Haley to appear before the coun- efl and reaffirm the opposition of the Chicago Teachers’ Federation to a raise in taxation for school revenue. Miss Haley will point out that if the large corporations will be compelled to pay taxes which have been, and which in many cases should have been assessed against them, would be ample funds to finance the schools. It was decided to hold a large mass meeting of all teachers’ organiza- tions in the city in order to deal with then there the question of taxation. from the superintendent’s office, containing a detailed plan for speeding up NeieTTmBYHA Vembaa rasema-KypHar Uykarckoro omaena ras. «HOBbIA MMP™ The above cut represents the offi- cial name of the Russian living news- paper Prolet-Tribune which is issued in Chicago by the worker correspond- ents of the Russian Communist daily Novy Mir, The next, fifth issue of this paper will be out tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 20, at the Workers’ House, 1902 W. Division St.. Beginning at 8 p.m, Admission 25c. eee Land to the Users Thereof By JOHN H. HANSEN. Farmer Correspondent, During the years preceding the civil war the attention of the sympathizers with slavery was so fixed on the en- forcement of the fugitive slave act and other legislation supporting the institution of slavery that they con- doned murder and other crimes. not only in the enforcement of these laws but in opposing the efforts to get rid of them. Today, in the days before the great revolution, the financial Interests are putting great stress on the enforce- ment of financial obligations. The worker without a job, unable to pay the installment on his home loses that home. The worker who can not pay ais rent is foreibly ejected and the worker who cannot pay his grocery bill is blacklisted, The farmer, who, workers | Speed-Up Workers. In the body paint department pre- vious to the changing of the “model,” 108 men were employed to give each | body three coats of paint at an average rate of $6.40 a da After the change to the spray em, the number of men employed is but 24 jand they must turn out the same number of cars that the 108 did be- fore. A wage increase in this depart- ment would cause SOME sensation as |the tendency has been for the com- |P to cut wages here rather than | boost them Five years ago, the oil sanders re- ceived an average of $7.20, now they lreceive $6.40. Color varnishers aver- aged $7.20 now it is $6.40. The same can be said of every operation on body construction and painting. No Wage Increases. Ford tells in this article that he was able to compel a body manufacturer to cut the price from $56 to $28 on cars j built for the d Motor company by insisting on id business manage- ment” and that the manufacturer was able to pay bigger wages and made more profits. As to the assertion that the manufacturer made bigger profits there is no doubt, but the statement that wages were increased is a false- hood as any worker in the plant re- |ferred to the Brigg Manufacturing company, otherwise known as the “hell-hole” of Detroit will readily test- ify. Intensive slave driving and wage cutting are the methods employed in the Brigg’s plant. At present the Ford company plant is running five days a week. The daily production in every department has been 80 fixed to make up in five days the output that formerly took | six days. In every department it is a com mon practice for the foremen or service “stools” to go around spying on the workers. If any worker ie found chewing, spitting, talking, laughing, failing to report for work on time or is engaged in something other than profit making for the flivver magnate, he is immediately sent to the employment office where he re- ceives a sentence of “lay-off” if he is working for the minimum wage and if he is receiving higher then the minimum wage he is fired and then offered reinstatement at the $65.00 minimum. Flivver Magnate Exposed. This policy of firing workers who make over the minimum and rehiring them at the low scale took place at the rouge plant on a large scale, where several thousand were fired and later rehired at the $5.00 rate. These facts show the hypocrisy of the notoriety seeking flivver magnate. Freiheit Singers Will Present New Cantata ‘The Two Brothers By a Worker Correspondent NEW YORK, Feb, 18—The Fretheit Singing Society, Lazar Weiner, direc- tor, will present the cantata, “The Two Brothers,” Saturday night at the Mecca Auditorium, Brooklyn, The can- tata was written by T. Sheifer and this will be its first rendition in the city, Weiner is a gifted conductor and noted pianist. Both men are well- known pioneers in the field of work- ing class music. Sheifer has done much towards the establishment of re- volutionary labor choruses. The over two hundred. A number of the members of the New York Symphony Orchestra will play the accompani- ment for the cantata. The program jcently written by Weiner. Based on Revolutionary Poem. The music of the cantata is based on the symbolic revolutionary poem, “The Two Brothers,” by the famous Jewish writer and poet, J. L, Peretz, chorus itself has a membership of + will include several shorter composi--} tions by Sheifer and some songs re- with his family has put in a lifetime’ helping to feed and clothe the world, if he cannot meet his financial oblig: tions with the pitiful prices he gets for his products is mercilessly bereft of his home and farm, and is turned ' adrift to swell the tide of the unem- » ployed, These laws are wrong. They are as wrong as the fugitive slave act, . Why should the dollar be more sacred than human life and happiness? To; deprive a man of his home and his’! job whereby he makes his living is to deny him the right to live and is to impose upon him a slow, lingering © crucification, The law which says you shall leave | your home and farm because of finan- cial distress is no more just than the fugitive slave act and is enforced only, because it is in the interest of the cap. italist class,